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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

I love Halloween. It pushes people to leave their comfort zones by trying out a new identity for a while. Since Halloween costumes disguise people's identies, I had the hilarious thought that they could be called by what they are:

But then today I went shopping for my disguise, and discovered that I was not so original:

Not sure a pair of devil ears is an effective disguise, but okay.

Later, I found attempts attempts to "disguise" the true nature of costumes, in fear of people dressed in suits delivering, um, suits.

Others disguised themselves a little too well:

Guess who the hell it's supposed to be and win a prize!*

Happy Halloween everyone reading this. May you make terrible decisions while under the illusion that your identity is disguised.

* Legal notice: due to nonexistence of right answer, prize does not exist.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

There are a whole lot of ideas flying around in The Knife of Never Letting Go. The central premise is that men can hear each other's thoughts, constantly giving off what they call "Noise." That'd be enough to keep things interesting, but then other ideas are layered on top of it: it takes place on an alien planet, all women were wiped out by a virus, and oh yeah, animals can talk. In fact, the book opens with:

"The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say. About anything."

That "yer" tips you off to the style the book is written in. It's told from the perspective of Todd, a twelve(ish) year old kid who actually talks like a kid. The novel is brilliantly written in his voice, with plenty of misspelled words, misunderstandings, and internal struggle. I find the parenthetical "shut up" after admitting any emotion to the reader particularly cute.

The point of view and style are a kid's, but the substance of the story is very much adult. It goes to some dark places, made all the darker by characters that are easy to care about. I shouldn't have read this at work, because it almost made me break down during my lunch break (shut up).

At least Ness takes responsibility for his actions:

I was ready to gushingly recommend this book like I've never gushingly recommended before, but there is one problem: it's the first in a series. It's very much the first in a series. By the end, I wasn't quite expecting cliffhanger after cliffhanger, followed by needing to read two more books. I suppose it's still a positive that it left me wanting more, but, uuungh.

About Phronk

My name is Mike. Some people call me Phronk. I'm a person, and I live in London, Ontario, Canada. I write a lot, hence the blog, but also do a lot of other stuff, including: eating, reading, watching stuff on screens, sleeping, using web sites, and walking. I have a PhD in psychology, which is why I'm so smart and you have to call me "doctor." I research and analyze technology for a living. Now you know everything about me.